Paddlemania with my My Personal Villain!

This weekend was the 12th annual Paddlemania.  It was going to be special for me as Saturday morning I was picking up my new kayak!  Not just any kayak but my Personal Villain!  This boat was darn hard to come by.  I wanted the the Elite and the wait I was told  was going to be three weeks...at least!  I was leaving for the Northwest in two weeks!  The demand for this boat is exceptional!  I did my home work and located one at Whitecap Kayak .  It was the only one in the Midwest for sale and I was hoping it was any color other than red, white, and blue. I had fallen in love with the blue, black and white one at CKS and was regretting not getting it while I was out there.  Lara said it was....yes...red, white and blue.  I saw it at Wausau and thought it's a swirled pattern and doesn't look too much like a Bomb Pop. OK...I'll take it!  I had already decided on the name of my Villain weeks ago.  Meet McMurray.  McMurray came into my loving custody  from the hands of a Pastor.    Pastor Neil Schroeter, the owner of Whitecap Kayak.  All things considered I asked him to Bless the boat.  Up until now all my boats had their virgin run on my home river, the Vermilion.  It was only fitting that McMurray was broken in on the razor sharp rocks of the St Louis during Paddlemania.  It paddled like a rock star!  I put it through the hole at the bottom of Electric Ledge and it didn't even pause a second. Still it wasn't the color I had imagined for my boat.  Back at the Outpost just about everyone wanted to see the large Villain.  I was amazed at the reaction to the color...people loved it!  I was assured over and over that red, white and blue IS the hottest color to get.  OK... it's my personal Villain and I still love it even though it's extremely bright and attracts large amounts of admiration.

  The 12th annual Paddlemania happened with a little bit for everyone.  A few lessons...a few tours...a first D with a Duo...lots of swims...one double extended swimming tour of a hole that was pretty bad and even a little stitching practice for our resident paddling MD...Burgess.  Surly Beer was consumed at record speed.  The Slot Machine Showdown was great entertainment as always.  Thirteen paddlers gambled....only two lost.  The door prizes from Midwest Mountaineering really rocked this year!  I had been putting off buying a new spray skirt and I won one right off the bat!  WhoooHoo!  Unfortunately there was no rampant nudity this year...maybe next  year. Thank you Team Midwest Mountaineering for putting this on!   Here is Todd's video of the Slot Machine Showcase.

  And for those of you that follow my amazing friend and artist Joi Electa...she had her second whitewater river lesson.  She styled down First Wave rapid!  Awesome!

Black Friday...Beautiful Day.

Finally I had a weekend off. Three days of no work and the weather for the end of November was incredible! I stopped at Midwest to pick up a few boats for Joi to try out and headed north. I actually had butterflies in my stomach I was so excited to be back on the road again! It has been a long time (for me). The sun was shining and my first destination was the St. Louis River. Actually it was the only destination in Minnesota with any water running to speak of. This late in the season I was curious to see what the mystery last drop looked like. The reservoir is drained each winter and with the dropping of the level one last drop opens up. I met up with my friend Jack at the Outpost and we ran the shuttle. We both had opted for creek boats today as the water was mucho cold and we were just into running the river. How blessed were we to have a warm (for Minnesota) sunny day with just a fun level to paddle. We took our time and just enjoyed the paddled chatting, laughing and just hanging out. We finally made it down to the Mystery Drop at the end. I wanted a good look at it as the one and only other time I ran it it sucked my playboat back in and I had to surf it out. We pulled out and looked at it from the right and then crossed over and looked at it from the left. We both took the small boof on the left and then we ferried out to look and see what the middle looked like. I am told this ledge becomes a very sticky hole at certain levels. Very interesting to see. The sun was on it's way down as we crossed the reservoir. Thin ice lay in patches around the edges and I had my fun ice breaking through. Was this my last paddle for 2009? I can't say for sure but if it was Jack and I had a stellar day on Black Friday!

Lower St. Louis on a Beautiful Fall Day

Happy Birthday to Dan! One of my three favorite open boaters. We celebrated in the best possible way...on the river! Aaron, Alan, Dan and I hooked up to catch a last run on the Lower St Louis before they cut off fish flow at the end of this month. The weather could not have been better...warm and sunny...the leaves just starting to turn colors. I haven't been on the Lower for quite a long time. I still hadn't ran Octopus and the Swinging Bridge yet. My first attempt at running Octopus was aborted due to a 20 foot log jackknifing out of the Beak in front of me blocking me from coming out of the Room. That was June 2007! Well today was the day...we had a small tight group and we were on the river to just enjoy. We leisurely meandered down the lower enjoying every possible bit we could and doing quite a bit of videoing. We set up at Octopus and scouted...everyone had a great run. The day was cruzing! Even the Boneyard was enjoyable for almost all of us. We pulled out and scouted Left Slot and the Hanging pool. With video set we all styled it. By then the Swinging Bridge was completely full of people watching us and more on the side of the river. Snakebite was just fine and we paddled towards the cheering crowd on the bridge. They were applauding us when Alan whipped off a roll...sheesh...the crowd went wild! Funny how we just ran all THAT and what tickled them the most is a roll. We pulled over and it was decision time. Dan has been wanting to run Fin Falls in an open canoe for awhile. We discussed it and the boys were all for it. I had a stellar day so I said I would run the video. At the top of Fin we scouted. I set up video and Aaron had the rope after deciding to not run it leaving Alan and Dan. Alan has speculated that he's never heard of anyone running Fin in an open canoe before so this was going to be something. Alan paddling a C1 led off and waited for Dan. Long story short Dan and Alan both styled it all the way down! What a great way to spend a birthday! Everyone has their top shelf of river memories where they store moments of very special runs. This run definitely went on the top shelf. I took a few photos along the way but here's Dan's video from the day.

A Day with Joi!

Joi Electa is a well known, talented artist who lives in God's country...the North Shore of Lake Superior. Each year I go to the Gunflint with friends and this year I stopped in Beaver Bay to spend the day with Joi, learning to oil paint. We met for breakfast and talked mostly about our common interests of nature. The wolf family she has been watching and where we may go to paint. We decided on the Beaver River. We walked down to the mouth and then continued up the river. Climbing almost dry falls and just following and enjoying the river. I had to force myself to turn back or I would have continued to follow the river all day. It was just one beautiful discovery after another and I can't resist seeing what is just around the corner. In Joi I found a sister spirit in this adventure. We had a great hike and talked a lot about what it looks like with all the spring melt crashing down the bed. But we had a mission and that was to oil paint. We headed back to where we left our supplies and settled in to paint. Joi has been painting since she was 6. It shows! She explained the basics and touched on the complexities of oil painting. I guess I never really thought of all that goes into painting. My misconception being that I thought you either had the talent or not. There's so many things involved that it really is a learning process...technique, lighting, mixing of colors, depth, balance, layering, brushes, the list goes on. I attempted to paint part of the Beaver River under the bridge. My "real" life is busy and stressful and I'm always looking for peace. While painting you need to put everything else aside and just concentrate on what's before you. I came away from the day thinking I could do this but I just need to learn more and keep painting. Joi was a great teacher...very patient! The day ended too soon and I had to be back on my way north. I had a small painting next to me and the smell of fresh paint lingered in my truck for days...it was a good smell as it brought back the peacful day spent with Joi.